1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weighing machine, and more particularly to a weighing machine used for general medical treatment including osteopathy and chiropractic.
2. Description of the Related Art
So far, as a part of health care, body weight has been used to check a person is health or not. For example, sick person, aged person and the like lose their balance of right and left sides of the body, so that it is necessary to easily check whether on right foot or on left foot more weight is rested, and so on, to cure the unstable balance.
In order to measure the weights rested on right foot and left foot, a weighing machine illustrated in FIG. 14 is proposed in Japanese patent application laid open Showa 61-52236. This weighing machine digitally displays weight after converting to quantity of electricity through weighing mechanism. The weighing machine is provided with means for converting weight to quantity of electricity through weighing mechanism which is independently disposed in right and left sections of an base 101, and weight is rested on each step 107 of the measuring mechanism to display, for a predetermined period of time, the sum of the right and left weights and the difference between them.
The weighing machine shown in FIG. 15, which is disclosed in Japanese patent application laid open Showa 62-273415, is also used for the same purpose, and is. This weighing machine simultaneously measures the weight of a person through more than one weighing devices 201, 201xe2x80x2, and calculates the difference of the weights among the weighing devices. With this apparatus, weight is not displayed after a person starts the measurement by each weighing machine until measured values become stable, and at the moment the measured values are within a predetermined range the condition is notified to the person and the sum of the weights is displayed on a display section A. The data from the weighing devices are stored, and the differences of the weights among the weighing devices are divided into sections and displayed.
The first conventional weighing machine is provided with only two weighing mechanisms (right and left weighing mechanisms), therefore, only right and left balance of the weight of the body can be measured, but it is impossible to grasp front and rear balance of the weight of the body, which makes it difficult to use the data obtained for the purpose of osteopathy and chiropractic.
Further, in the second conventional apparatus, more than one weighing device is used, but no means for positioning the person is mounted, so that it is difficult to accurately grasp the right and left, and front and rear balances of the weight of the person.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the present applicant invented a four-divided weighing machine, and the machine is registered as Japanese utility model registration No. 3022108.
As illustrated in FIG. 16, this weighing machine 301 is simply constructed, and provided with a bottom plate 305, four weighing mechanisms 303 arranged right and left, and back and forth on the bottom plate 305, a step 306 mounted on the four weighing mechanisms 303, and means 304, which includes a slider holding portion 309 and a slider 310, for positioning the person standing on the step 306. The four weighing mechanisms 303 arranged right and left, and back and forth make it possible to accurately measure the bias of the right and left, and front and rear weights of the person, which provides sufficient data for general medical treatment including osteopathy and chiropractic.
This time, the present applicant modified the aforementioned weighing machine, and provides a new weighing machine that is more useful for chiropractic and other medical treatment by more accurately grasping the bias of the right and left, and front and rear weights of the person, and by recording momently changing center of the weight rested on right and left feet each, and center of the weight of the whole body.
To accomplish the above objective, the weighing machine according to the present invention comprises two weighing device arranged right and left with a predetermined distance between them, and each weighing device is provided with a case body with a bottom plate, four weighing mechanisms arranged right and left, and back and forth on the bottom plate, means for positioning a person to be measured on the four weighing devices.
With the above weighing machine according to the present invention, in addition to the bias of the weights rested on right and left feet of a person to be measured, it is possible to measure four-divided distribution of the weights rested on right and left feet respectively, the center of gravity of the weights, the center of gravity of whole body and so on, which provides remarkably useful data for chiropractic and other medical treatment.
In the above weighing machine according to the present invention, the positioning means may include channels formed between side walls of the four weighing mechanisms.
Further, it is possible to form the weighing machine described above such that each weighing device has a load cell, and the weighing machine is provided with weight measuring means for converting electrical voltage measure by the load cell to weight data, storing means for storing the weight data, processing means for processing the weight data stored in the storing means, and displaying means for displaying data processed by the processing means.